Republicans override ban on 12-week abortion limit | The USA Print

An initiative that bans most abortions after 12 weeks of gestation will become law in North Carolina because the Republican majority in the General Assembly on Tuesday overrode the Democratic governor’s veto.

The House of Representatives completed the second and final part of the override vote Tuesday night, after a similar three-fifths share voted to override the veto hours earlier in the Senate. The result represents a major victory for Republican leaders in the state Congress, who needed all the members of the party to enact the law in the face of opposition from Governor Roy Cooper.

Cooper vetoed the measure over the weekend, after spending the past week on a tour of the state trying to convince at least one Republican to ratify the veto.

Republicans have promoted the measure as an intermediate change to the law law, which currently prohibits almost all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

The vote came at a time when the rights to abortion across the country faced another fundamental change, as lawmakers weighed strict restrictions on abortion in North Carolina and South Carolina, two of the few states in the country’s Old South that still had relatively easy access.

Nebraska was another state debating restrictions on abortion on Tuesday, made possible by the federal Supreme Court last year’s invalidation of the landmark Roe v. Wade Act of 1973, which established a national right to terminate a pregnancy.

According to another project law to be voted on Tuesday in the South Carolina House of Representatives, access to abortion it would be almost totally prohibited after six weeks of pregnancy. The state Senate rejected a proposal to make the procedure almost completely illegal.

He abortion it is banned or severely restricted in much of the country’s Old South and is currently banned throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. In Georgia, it is only allowed during the first six weeks of pregnancy.

Today, the Carolinas, Florida and Virginia are the top destinations in the region for women seeking a abortion legal. Florida has a ban that goes into effect after 15 weeks of pregnancy. under a law recent, that would be reduced to six weeks, pending a court decision. Farther west, the women often travel to Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, or Colorado.

At the national level, the ban on abortion throughout pregnancy is in effect in 14 states.

If the prohibitions become law in the Carolinas, coupled with the recent restriction in Florida, “it would just be devastating to access to abortion in the (Old) South,” said Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.

During the debate in the Senate of North CarolinaRepublicans pointed out that Cooper ignored the $160 million included in the initiative that would boost funding to increase contraceptive services, reduce maternal and infant mortality and provide paid maternity leave for teachers and state employees.

“Residents of North Carolina Those watching this debate are seeing exaggerated and extreme objections from some Democrats,” said Republican Sen. Vickie Sawyer. “Their anger is that this bill law It’s conventional and a common sense approach to a very complicated subject.”

Democrats focused on the details of the rules by abortionwhich —they pointed out— would impose barriers between women and their doctors, leaving pregnant women in danger.

And the 12-week limit means the girls would have about a couple of weeks to decide if a abortion is the right thing to do, leading them to continue with unwanted pregnancies, said Democratic Sen. Natasha Marcus.

“This project of law it’s a slap It’s a muzzle on our mouths and it’s a straitjacket on our body,” Marcus said. Shouts of “Shame!” could be heard from outside the Senate after the vote in the Senate.

Protesters against the abortion Arriving hours before the vote packed the gallery of the North Carolina Senate, with about 150 supporters of the ban bill holding identical “Vote Pro-Life” banners.

“So many Republicans have succumbed to the pressure of all the groups that are just full of hate and are pushing things that are against God,” said Sharon Dooley, a 63-year-old resident of Garner, North Carolina.

In South Carolina, the impasse dates back to a special session last fall, when state representatives calling for a near-total ban failed to meet to negotiate with their fellow Senate members who were advocating a ban on the six weeks.

The impasse persisted even after the state Supreme Court in January struck down a law previous law that prohibited abortions once cardiac activity was detected in the embryo.

That decision left the abortion legalized up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The sharp increase in proceedings since then has riled Republicans.

Meanwhile, Nebraska lawmakers were scheduled to debate a proposal that would ban the abortion at 12 weeks pregnant. The proposal came after lawmakers last month rejected a bill law that would have prohibited the abortion after detection of cardiac activity in the embryo.

“Today marks the beginning of the first real step of North Carolina to become a pro-life state,” said Tami Fitsgerald, executive director of the Coalition for California Values. North Carolinaof conservative tendency, after the vote in the lower house.

Senate Republicans said Gov. Cooper ignored $160 million included in the measure that would bolster funding to increase contraceptive services, reduce maternal and infant mortality and provide paid maternity leave for state employees and teachers.

The new restrictions on abortion, which will take effect on July 1, provide exceptions for cases of rape or incest up to 20 weeks of pregnancy and for “life-limiting” fetal anomalies up to the first 24 weeks. A current exception will remain in force for when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger.